Month: August 2023

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The major freight railroads say a disagreement over whether they will be allowed to discipline some workers who use a government hotline to report safety concerns has kept them from following through on the promise they made back in March to join the program after

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says it will take a look at increasing regulation over some air charters that operate much like regular airlines. Labor unions are happy with the move that the Federal Aviation Administration announced on Thursday. The unions say charters are becoming unfair competition for their airlines because they operate under

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani already knew he had a career-altering tear in his elbow ligament when he roped a double to right in the fifth inning of the Angels’ doubleheader nightcap on Wednesday. After he hustled to second base, he was greeted by Elly De La Cruz.

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The release of “Dune: Part Two,” one of the fall’s most anticipated films, has been postponed from November until next year. Warner Bros. confirmed the shift Thursday. Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction sequel had been set to open Nov. 3, but will instead land in theaters March

PANAMA CITY (AP) — The government of Panama says it will launch a new campaign to stem the flow of migrants through the dangerous, jungle-clad Darien Gap, after crossings hit 300,000 so far this year. In comparison, less than 250,000 migrants crossed in all of 2022. Officials said the plan, named “Darien is a jungle,

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued SpaceX, the rocket company founded and run by Elon Musk, for alleged hiring discrimination against refugees and people granted asylum. The complaint, filed in an administrative court within the department, asserts that SpaceX wrongly claimed that federal export control laws barred it from hiring anyone

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Ballot Board has approved language for a fall abortion measure that Democrats and the issue’s backers are criticizing as inaccurate. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights is considering litigation. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, an abortion opponent, developed the language. It changes the

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama jury on Thursday convicted a woman of felony murder for the 2020 beating death of her boyfriend’s 3-year-old son. WAFF-TV reports jurors in Lauderdale County returned the guilty verdict against 23-year-old Yalrick Pride during their first day of deliberations. Kaiden Garner died in the summer of 2020. Authorities said

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department is under a federal investigation for alleged racial discrimination. A Kansas City spokesperson confirmed the U.S. Department of Justice investigation to The Kansas City Star Thursday. Associated Press phone calls requesting comment from the federal agency were not immediately returned Thursday. Three Black firefighters

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The kind of mass threats and extortion of lime growers in the western Mexico that sparked a civilian vigilante uprising ten years ago have returned, and growers say they can’t get their crops to market. One lime grower who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge has approved an updated Great Lakes fishing agreement between four Native American tribes and government agencies. The deal extends for 24 years a system overseeing commercial and sport fishing in parts of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. The affected areas were

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Organization of American States’ human rights commission is asking Guatemala to provide protection for Bernardo Arévalo, the winner of the country’s Aug. 20 elections, after reports emerged of a possible plot to kill him. The commission said in a statement Thursday that there were reports of “at least one” plan

By BERT WILKINSON Associated Press GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana president Irfaan Ali on Thursday lashed out at the descendants of European slave traders, saying those who profited from the cruel, trans-Atlantic slave trade should offer to pay reparations to today’s generations. The leader of the South American country also proposed that those involved in

By EMMA BURROWS LONDON (AP) — News that Russia’s Wagner mercenary chief was believed dead in a plane crash has dominated world reports, along with speculation that it might be linked to his June mutiny. But on Russian state media, there has been a very different picture. State TV channels have largely stuck to describing

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former death row inmate in Mississippi will be resentenced a second time because of a determination that he has intellectual disabilities. The new sentence will make him eligible for the possibility of parole. The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday for 69-year-old Howard M.

By JONATHAN MATTISE and KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican lawmakers have hit an impasse just a few days into a special session sparked by a deadly school shooting in March. The Senate’s decision Thursday to adjourn until Monday leaves little certainty about what lawmakers might ultimately pass. However, they have

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer whose self-given nickname stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill,” played a cat and mouse game with investigators and reporters for decades before he was caught. But Rader gradually faded from view after his 2005 arrest, as he served one life term for each of the

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Joan Lowy, a veteran Washington journalist who spent the final decade of her career covering transportation issues for The Associated Press, has died. She was 66. Lowy died early Wednesday at her home in Vienna, Virginia, after a 10-year battle with abdominal cancer, said her husband, Michael

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence says viewers should expect to see the same, more combative candidate at the next GOP debate as he urged his former running-mate-turned-rival Donald Trump to join his competitors on stage next time around. Pence says a day after Wednesday’s debate that “elections

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Prosecutors have asked a federal court to set plea hearings for two corrections officers on a charge stemming from an assault on a jail inmate who later died. Motions filed Wednesday seek the hearings for Southern Regional Jail officers Andrew Fleshman and Steven Wimmer. The officers

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Summer is still four months away in the Southern Hemisphere but Brazil is contending with a balmy winter, with record high temperatures and dry weather across much of the country. The rare heat wave engulfed 19 of Brazil’s 26 states on Thursday, as well as

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon said Thursday. The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury in Chicago has convicted a former chief of staff to longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of lying under oath to protect his once-powerful boss. Tim Mapes was convicted Thursday of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice. The obstruction charge carries up to 20 years in prison and the

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press A California judge is rejecting an environmental group’s lawsuit that sought to block the state’s largest utility from seeking to extend the operating life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. Friends of the Earth sued in state Superior Court in April, hoping to derail a proposal to extend

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A grand jury in Kentucky has declined to indict a police officer in the fatal shooting of an armed Black man during a standoff. News outlets cited a grand jury report and attorneys in reporting the development Thursday. They said state police presented evidence about the fatal shooting last year of